MILAN, Italy (AP) — A tram derailed Friday and slammed right into a constructing within the coronary heart of Milan, killing two individuals and injuring greater than two-dozen others, officers stated.
The incident, alongside the central Vittorio Veneto avenue, got here because the Italian enterprise capital is internet hosting its seasonal vogue reveals and is within the interim between internet hosting the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Video games.
The No. 9 tram runs by the guts of Italy’s monetary capital. It was alleged to have continued straight alongside Vittorio Veneto and was going at a excessive velocity. But it surely immediately swerved at a change monitor that’s utilized by one other tram line and went off its standard course, in response to video of the crash broadcast by Sky TG24.
The video reveals the tram almost flipping onto its aspect because it takes the curve earlier than slamming to a cease in a constructing.
Milan Mayor Beppe Sala prompt human error was in charge, saying the driving force had apparently failed to change the tracks to maintain the tram going straight. Sala described the driving force as a seasoned worker who had solely been on his shift for an hour. However he stated he had skipped a previous cease earlier than the crash occurred, and could be questioned from the hospital the place he was being handled for his accidents.
Sala confirmed two individuals had been killed — one passenger on the tram and one on the road. He stated not one of the different injured was in life-threatening situation.
Dozens of ambulances, fireplace vans and police vehicles responded to the crash, with crews escorting passengers in thermal blankets away from the scene.
ATM, the Milan public transport firm, stated it was cooperating with prosecutors “to exactly set up the trigger and dynamic of the incident.”
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Nicole Winfield contributed from Rome.